Slain teen, assailant may have argued earlier

Cindy Wilson, 25,lived with her brother Shawn Wilson, 16 who was shot and killed less than a block from where he lived on the Southwest Side of Chicago. (Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune)

Chicago police are investigating the possibility that a 16-year-old slaying victim and the suspect who shot him may have had an earlier confrontation at a nearby gas station.

Police said Shawn Wilson was on the porch of his residence on the 3500 block of West 80th Street on Wednesday with his brother and two friends when the shooting took place just before 10 p.m.

"They were approached by the suspect who was hurling insults," said Officer Gabrielle Lesniak, Chicago police spokeswoman. "It is confirmed a gang-related incident."

Lesniak said there is no indication that Wilson was a gang member.

The death came especially hard to a large family that lost their mother 14 years ago in an Englewood shooting.

When approached, the victim and a male friend stepped off the porch to confront the offender near an alley or gangway, Lesniak said.

The suspect pulled out a gun and fired, Lesniak said. Shawn fled, but collapsed on the sidewalk leading to his home. He was found there dead by his teenage nephew and close friend with a gunshot wound to his abdomen, police and family members said.

Shawn's relatives said today he was about to start his junior year at Bogan High School this fall, that he loved to play basketball and rap music and had dreams of college and a good job. He had plans to spend the summer with family in Indiana.

They described him as a quiet boy, the youngest of eight siblings, and said he was not in a gang. The deadly encounter, they added, was a misunderstanding.

"Out of the blue, so sudden, so young," lamented Wilson's sister Cindy, 25. "I don't know how anyone can do this."

She said she still couldn't believe what had happened.

"Shawn did not get in trouble at all, never was fighting, so respectable. Everyone loved him," she said.

Shameka Wilson Branch, 31, Wilson's sister and legal guardian, said she had told her brother to stay on the porch Wednesday night.

"It was dark outside," she said. "I didn't want them roaming the streets."

Wilson's death hit the large family especially hard because their mother was killed in an Englewood shooting. "It's very hard. I lost my mom 14 years ago and now I lost my baby brother," Wilson Branch said. "I just don't understand."

Chicago police said their investigation is continuing and they had no one was in custody.

They said the Shawn's assailant wore a dark hooded sweater and jeans and got into the passenger side of a red car.

An autopsy today determined he died of a gunshot wound to the chest in a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Wilson's slaying came about 12 hours after the death of Abraham Tabani, 15, another Bowan High School student, who was shot Sunday evening in the 4100 block of West 82nd Place as he played basketball. For more on Tabani's slaying, read a story here.